Hi Patch. You gave me a idea. I am going to start a Mental Institution thread in the Special Intrests-Health topics as there is so much to talk about on this issue. I hope you will post your experince over there as well. I can't imagine what these places were like.Thanks for posting this.

...A famous American Dungeon is the Provost Dungeon in Charleston, South Carolina, used during the Revolutionary War. It is the cellar, with heavy barrel vaulted ceilings, under the Old Exchange Building. Visiting it would give you a good idea of what an American dungeon looked like! It was described as a damp and unwholesome place that caused many illnesses and deaths among the prisoners. Imagine no electricity or running water! Prisoners of all types (many innocent), men and women, were indiscriminately thrown together in one room to suffer the consequences....

EtymologyThe word dungeon was derived from the Old French donjon, which came from the Latin dominus, "lord".

However, in French the term donjon means "keep" (a form of tower), and the term oubliette or cachot (a form of prison) is a more appropriate translation of the English "dungeon". This word is a false friend.

HistoryIn its original medieval usage, the dungeon was the keep, the main tower of a castle which formed the final defensive position the garrison could retreat to when outer fortifications were overcome. It was also a safe, if not comfortable, place to keep prisoners. Once more luxurious housing for the lord of the castle was constructed, the dungeon was used mainly for this purpose. Its meaning has evolved over time to also mean an underground prison or burial vault, typically built underneath a castle.

In 1613, Anton Praetorius described the terrible situation of the prisoners in the dungeons in his book Gründlicher Bericht über Zauberei und Zauberer (Thorough Report about Wizardry and Wizards).

FeaturesAlthough many real dungeons are simply a single plain room with a heavy door or with access only from a hatchway or trapdoor in the floor of the room above, the use of dungeons for torture, along with their association to common human fears of being trapped underground, have made dungeons a powerful metaphor in a variety of contexts.

The smell in dungeons were nothing extra-ordinary for folks living back then. Remember, our "sensitivities" such as smell etc, are a product of our "enlightened" society and nothing more.

The reality of remains of human bodies......well the rats and other vermin would pretty well take care of most of that, long before the bodies began to stink too badly, in most cases.

Also, and sorry if this offends anyone, oft times fellow prisoners would also contribute to the disposal of the dead, and even help their weaker fellows along on their trip to providing fodder, shall we say?

That is, of course, in jails/dungeons where there were provisions made for crowding the poor etc together that way.

MOST older dungeons were just a hole in the ground that you threw someone who had offended the Lord for whatever reason and NO ONE cared about them after that.

Human life in those days consisted of two varieties......those who had power and wealth and those who didn't.

I found at a German website an extensive description of different torture manners and a lot of punishments which was in use in medieval Germany. I can say that my ancestors was very fancy in this case... really hard stuff.If somebody is interested I'll translate this into English. I ask before I do this, because it will be a lot of work...

Here are the first four torture manners in disordered sequence - the relativly easy manners first... (Translation fails I please to excuse)

lead press, crown squeezerTorture or execution. For using this instruments the head was layed into a vise and this was screwed down more and more until – akin the squeezing of grapes – heavy pressure weighed on the crowm of the accused until the crown broke.

to drownTorture or execution. The tortured was, shackled on hands or within a cage on a rope launched to water (sea, river harbor) again and again so that he couldn't breath less or longer time. This was made by using a crane frame. Every time he was lifted above the water there was the ability to admit something. If he didn't he was launched again.

weightsTorture or execution. The tortured was laid on a table and strapped down. On his chest was placed a plank. Oin this plank was laid heavy weights, those took him the breath. If the tortured didn't admit was put more and more weights on the plank – until the chest broke.

to broilTorture or execution. The tortured was affixed above a fire place in a kind (eighter erectly fixed by a picket or layed on a frame) that you could ingnite a small fire below his feet. The feet lubed up by grease and the fire ignited. First burned up the skin on the feet until the substance was visibly. The smell of the own burned substance ingressed into the nose of the tortured. The torture could take so long until the feet-bones was visibly.